Extended Epilogue
LOUISE
“Whew!” I let out a puff of air as I rise from the dirt, one hand going to my brow to swipe at the sweat threatening to run down my temple. I scan the horizon line to measure the sun’s height in the sky. “All right, let’s get this basket inside and get dinner started.”
“Yes ma’am,” a chorus replies. It’s not a clean, crisp answer, but rather, a round of little voices talking over each other.
“Where’re my ducks?” I question and the whole mini-crew comes running, some from the garden and some from the yard, to line up behind me like little ducklings.
A tiny voice says, “Quack, quack.”
“Ssh, you have to wait for Mama Louise to say it first,” Cindy Lou bosses her little sister, Maisie. Cindy Lou does that a lot, but Maisie would happily follow her big sister any way she wants to lead.
I smile to myself, but then glance over my shoulder to start the countdown. “One.”
Cindy Lou is quick to respond as the oldest at six years old, wanting to set a good example for the littler ones. “Two.”
“Thwee,” Maisie says, standing tall. “Like me!” Her little girl giggle is adorably bright.
“Uhh.”
Cindy Lou’s voice drops down to a whisper, “Four. And you’re five.” I don’t need to look back to see who she’s bossing now.
“Four!” Luke’s and Shayanne’s little boy, Leo, pipes up, loud and proud. Every word out of his mouth is that way. He takes after his momma, something we’re all really proud of since he didn’t speak a word of English when he came home after his adoption was finalized.
Last but not least of my ducklings, Johnny adds, “Five. Right Cindy Lou?” He sounded certain there for a second, but wants to double check just to be sure.
I can’t hold the smile back anymore. Reaching for his little blond head, I ruffle his hair.
He looks so much like Mark at his age, already serious and always straight-faced, watching the world around him with curiosity like he can catalogue everything he sees, smells, tastes, and experiences. “Yes, sir. Five is correct.”
Johnny smooths his hair down, wanting it back in place precisely. I don’t tell him that he just smeared some dirt along the blond strands. I quite like him a little messy and grimy, like a little boy on a ranch should be.
“Let’s get to it then, ducks. Quack, quack.” The basket of vegetables on my hip, I march in place. The stomp of feet behind me adds to the noise.
“Quack, quack!” they respond, and off we go. We march through the garden as I weave us this way and that, around the yard’s fence line, up the back stairs and finally, through the door into the kitchen.
“Quack, quack!” Our line is greeted by Shayanne in the kitchen.
She’s got her new baby boy, Riley, on her hip, wrapped in a swath of fabric to keep him seated there.
His chubby little legs kick and swing like he’s dancing along with her while she bags up jam for next week’s deliveries.
“Hey Mama Duck and baby ducklings. You get the gardening done?”
Cindy Lou answers first again, “Yes ma’am. We’ve got zucchini for tonight’s casseroles and Mama Louise said I could help do the layers if I washed my hands. Even under my nails so we don’t get no dirt in it. Daddy says a little dirt never hurt, but she said it has germs in it.”
Shayanne’s laugh is loud enough that Riley startles, but then he laughs along with his mom.
He might not understand what’s funny, but if his mom is happy, he’s happy.
And vice versa. “Or maybe, they’re both right?
Working and playing in the dirt is good, but we don’t eat it. Hit the sink and wash up.”
Cindy Lou does as she’s told, Maisie following right behind her, with Johnny overseeing them both though he’s younger. Leo goes the other direction, heading straight to his momma’s side to play with Riley’s toes. Riley jumps and kicks some more, reaching for Leo.
“Bub-ba, bub-ba, bub-ba,” he babbles happily.
I look around my kitchen, the hustle and bustle of little boots, tiny laughs, and a full house bringing fresh joy to my heart every single day. We’ve had a lot of changes and a bunch of additions in a short period of time, but each one has been such a blessing.
I set the basket onto a towel on the counter. Before I’ve even turned the water on, a chair pushes up next to me and Cindy Lou appears at my elbow. “Wash the zucchini gentle. Scrub the potatoes hard. No eating dirt.” She’s quoting someone, but I’m not sure who. Me? Shayanne? Sophie? James?
I boop her nose with a now-clean finger.
“Good girl.” She gets to work, carefully washing the zucchini like she’s seen me do dozens of times.
She really is a good girl - willing to pitch in, get dirty, and take care of animals.
Smart as a whip too, already reading easy books to the little ones.
I’ll miss her when school starts back up in a few weeks.
Maisie stands next to the chair, considering climbing up, so I distract her quickly.
“Maisie, Leo… can you take the forks and spoons to the table? One at each placemat, ‘kay? Work together.”
“Yes ma’am.”
They get to work and so do I. Shayanne switches to home mode, leaving her jam deliveries to corral kids so we can put dinner together. We get the basics all done, letting Cindy Lou layer the zucchini slices into the casserole dishes.
“Who wants to help with the salad?” I muse aloud.
“Me!” The same off-key chorus answers and I place a big bowl in the middle of the kid-sized table by the island. The little ones crowd around it, ready to tear lettuce to bits.
And slowly but surely, we get dinner prepared.
Buzzzz!
The timer goes off and I grab oven mitts to pull the casseroles out. One goes onto the center of the table on a trivet, and the other goes into a quilted carrying case Katelyn bought me for Christmas last year.
Just in time too because I hear a herd of buffalo coming up the back steps. Either that, or the rest of the family is home from the fields.
“I’m gettin’ your slice of apple pie tonight. Won it fair and square,” a deep voice bellows. Even through the door, I can hear the teasing tone as James gives Luke a hard time.
“The hell you are. My wife made the pie, therefore, I get as much as I want. Including your slice if I want, so you’d better watch it,” Luke taunts back.
Those two have been the same since the first day they raced each other to the barn and James beat Luke.
John had laughed hard that night when he told me about it, predicting a life-long competition between those two and he’d been right.
But it’s all in good fun. They’ll both get their own slice of pie tonight.
The only person that could take it from them would be their women or their kids.
A good husband and father will always give up their dessert and both of those men are amazing family men.
The back door opens and closes with a bang, then boots clomp and stomp into the kitchen. “Hey Mama! Shay! Kids!”
Squeals of delight echo around the room and suddenly toddlers are flying through the air as their dads pick them up and hug them tight. The low growls of tickling and the high-pitched laughter are the most beautiful sound I can imagine.
“Good evening, boys,” I tell the herd of buffalo.
Yes, boys. They might all be over six feet tall and wide as a doorway, but they’re boys to me.
The only one that technically still qualifies as a ‘boy’ is Cooper, though at sixteen now, he’s a solid foot taller than me, has put on muscle from all the summer work he’s been doing, and is still growing like a weed every day. “Everyone washed up?”
“Yes ma’am.”
The table fills up quickly, with spots left open for the few folks we’re still expecting. Allyson is working today - she’s got a mediation case in the morning and has been head-down to prepare.
“Mark, Katelyn coming?” He dips his chin in answer. Knowing him, he’s probably tracking her on his phone and knows exactly when she left work and where she’s at right this second.
“Bobby, Willow and Aspen?” He shrugs, but looks down at his phone to text Willow.
She has a tendency to get lost in her photography and editing, and loses track of time.
Especially when she’s taking pictures of their little girl, Aspen.
She’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, and I don’t say that lightly.
She’s got Bobby’s black hair and tan complexion, but Willow’s delicate features and gray eyes, making her look like a dark pixie that is up to no good. She’ll be a heart-breaker, for sure.
“Brody, Rix?” He grunts a yes. A moment later, I can hear that Rix is home. The loud growl of her car can be heard from nearly the front gate to the house. Hopefully, Katelyn and Willow aren’t far behind.
“Sorry I’m late,” Rix calls from the front door.
“Had to get the munchkin and you won’t believe what he did now-“ She comes into the kitchen, all eyes already on her, waiting to hear what her and Brody’s boy, Ford, has done now.
He lives like his mother drives . . . pedal to the metal.
Which is also why he stays with a sitter in town that can give him undivided attention during the day.
That boy makes me laugh and I love him desperately, but he gives me heart palpitations with the way he charges through life.
Though, on second thought, that might be from Brody.
Poor thing, never had a chance at being a chill, laid back little guy with his mom and dad, I think with a happy buzz.
Brody takes the baby boy from Rix, smiling happily at the dark-haired, chubby-cheeked tot.
That smile on Brody’s face is hard won and well deserved.
It took some time and a lot of work, but he has his family settled down properly now, the way he always needed them to be.
We work Bennett Ranch and Tannen Farm as a co-op now mostly, depending on each other and working together on every acre.